"It’s not clear, however, why the administration needed to run its scythe across millions and millions of e-mails to find Mr. Zazi. The government has long possessed the ability to go to secret intelligence courts and receive warrants to monitor particular e-mail and phone accounts. These courts are sympathetic to government lawyers, rejecting petitions with about the same frequency that Mets hitters knock in a run; from 1978 to 2012, the courts turned down 11 of 34,000 requests. The capture of Mr. Zazi and his friends — on its face — registers as traditional spy craft and police work. That said, I should cut quickly to the weak underbelly of my argument. Government has an ever-growing ability to peer into what we once thought of as our intimate lives. Harvest enough phone records, study enough e-mail patterns, eavesdrop on enough conversations, and eventually its net will dredge up nasty fellows who wish us only ill. But what becomes of the society that allows its fishermen to cast such nets?"
Posted on: Tue, 11 Jun 2013 12:24:42 +0000
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